This day in HISTOROCK !! The Jimi Hendrix Experience !!

      This day in HISTOROCK !!

The date October 1, holds some significance for fans of Jimi Hendrix !! On Oct 1, 1966,Hendrix appeared live for the first time in the UK when he jammed with Eric Clapton and Cream at their gig at London Polytechnic !! Hendrix made his official UK live debut a month later on Friday Nov 25, 1966, when the Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared at the Bag O'Nails Club, London !! Hendrix was introduced to Clapton, who later commented: "He asked if he could play a couple of numbers. I said, 'Of course', but I had a funny feeling about him." Halfway through Cream's set, Hendrix took the stage and performed a frantic version of the Howlin' Wolf song "Killing Floor". In 1989, Clapton described the performance: "He played just about every style you could think of, and not in a flashy way. I mean he did a few of his tricks, like playing with his teeth and behind his back, but it wasn't in an upstaging sense at all, and that was it ... He walked off, and my life was never the same again" !! Going to England was the best thing that could have happened to Hendrix, because it was while in Europe, he established himself as a star !! Kind of ironic, that Hendrix had to go to the UK to find success !! It was while in the UK that  guitarist and soon to be bassist Noel Rediing and drummer Mitch Mitchell were discovered by former Animals manager and now Jimi's manager Cas Chandler !! Both passed the audition and The Experience was born !! Chandler also convinced Jimi to change the spelling of his name from Jimmy to Jimi !! On March 31, 1967, while the Experience waited to perform at the London Astoria, Hendrix and Chandler discussed ways with journalist Keith Altham in which they could increase the band's media exposure. Altham talked about how Pete Townsend of The Who smashed his guitar to pieces while on stage and said "Well, it's a pity you can't set fire to your guitar" !! That night Hendrix gave an especially dynamic performance before setting his guitar on fire at the end of a 45-minute set. The London press labeled Hendrix the "Black Elvis" and the "Wild Man of Borneo" !! The rest as they say is music history !! Also on Oct 1, 1970, Jimi Hendrix was buried at The Greenwood Cemetery at the Dunlop Baptist Church Seattle. He had passed away on Sept 18,1970. Among the mourners; Miles Davis, Eric Burdon, Johnny Winter and members of Derek and the Dominoes. Hendrix's influence is immeasurable in all genres of HISTOROCK !!  Hendrix influenced blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan, Metallica's Kirk Hammett, instrumental rock guitarist Joe Satriani, and heavy metal virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen, who said: "Hendrix created modern electric playing, without question ... He was the first. He started it all. The rest is history." The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 !!  Rolling Stone ranked the band's three studio albums, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time !! There are not many performers who can take another man's song and make it his own, but that's exactly what happened with the Bob Dylan song "All Along The Watchtower" !! Hendrix made it his own and it became a Jimi Hendrix song !! RIP Jimi !! "All Along The Watch Tower" is today's featured video !! Enjoy !! Chew that gum Jimi :-) 

Keep on ROCKIN !!
Trike :-)